Agenda item

Report of the Director of the Built Environment.

The Committee received a report of the Director of the Built Environment reviewing the first year of Lunchtime Streets events.

A Member, also the serving Chairman of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee, reported that he felt that this was a very useful start but that his Sub Committee were very strongly of the view that more could be done here. He spoke of further events not necessarily at lunch time but on school days to coincide with the end of the school day for example. He added that Members will know their own Wards/areas best and welcomed any ideas they might have as to where future events could be hosted. The Member concluded that the impetus for this had initially come from Chancery Lane Association and had had fantastic support from local businesses.

The Deputy Chair congratulated all on the huge success of this initiative to date. Others echoed their support and congratulations.

A Member spoke of the event in St Mary Axe which was situated within her Ward. She stated that the fact that this had already been designated as a pedestrian priority street was a useful foothold in to the Lunchtime Streets initiative. She added that businesses had been very much on-side with this too with no concerns as to effects on deliveries and the like. She stated that the events had also received lots of positive media support and coverage and urged Officers to press on with this work going forward.

One Member expressed some concern that the surveys referred to had been taken of those who had participated in the events and could therefore be considered as self-selecting. He added that the closure of Chancery Lane had been previously considered but rejected by this Committee and questioned whether there was therefore an ulterior motive behind these events. If this was the case, he suggested that the bigger picture around this be set out in frank terms for all. Another Member agreed that it was important to consider the bigger picture here. He added that it was commendable that the majority of Members now seemed to be moving towards the desire to at least semi-pedestrianise the City.

Another Member stated that she questioned why traffic was allowed to enter the City during rush-hour – a question that she had originally posed some ten years ago when first elected. She was pleased to see that things now seemed to be moving in the right direction but stressed that she hoped that Officers had taken the opportunity to monitor the impact that these closures had had on traffic and any necessary re-routing of it. She went on to refer to the City’s recent car-free day as well as the recent closure of Bank Junction due to protest. On these occasions, buses and other traffic seemed to have been successfully re-routed.

A Member stated that Officers needed to ensure that there was sufficient resources to enable these closures if it was something that Members were seeking to encourage. Security, particularly building security, would also need to be aware of closures and consulted on the planning of these in terms of evacuations and the like.

A Member stated that he was mindful of the fact that weekday road closures were perceived very differently to weekend road closures. He referred to celebrations he had held for Bengali New Year in the Guildhall Yard one Sunday in April 2019 and spoke of how this had been a huge success and one which he would like to repeat, perhaps in Aldgate, next year. He spoke of the need to also be mindful of other events taking place during road closures.

A Member, also the serving Chairman of the Streets and Walkways Sub Committee, agreed that more Sunday closures would be desirable with St Paul’s having already expressed support for and interest in this. The Chair stated that, in line with the organisations ‘Healthy Streets’ agenda, things such as timed closures and freight consolidation should be happening regardless with no specific event/reason needed for this. More could be done in terms of looking at how the City’s streets could be better utilised in general.

RESOLVED – That Members note the report.